It behooves a manufacturer to submit their head for testing. A non conforming sticker can be a positive sales tool in some circles, in others it is the kiss of death. In the situation being discussed I would suggest that the all knowing challenger of a club's conformity try to purchase the testing equipment or purchase a head and submit it to the USGA for testing. That should shut him/her up for good. NOT on the non conforming list means it's conforming.
Another case of "a little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing".
As happens all too often, there is a technical answer and a commercial answer. Arnie is absolutely right about the technical answer. But consider George's problem as he stated it.
George Huson wrote: "My problem is I have a local tourny guy giving one of my customers a hard time about the head. This guy is saying that just because it is not listed, does not make it legal. My customer is 60 years old, won the tourny, his average drive is 30-50 yards longer then it was last year with a Nike head. This idiot is saying that proves the head must be too hot. He refuses to believe that a driver can be built using no-name components and be able to outdrive the big names. .. "It is just a bunch of sour grapes, but it is begining to bother my customer, and is costing me quite a bit of business at that club."
This guy sounds like he has a vested interest in the answer. He doesn't want to know the truth -- and he ESPECIALLY doesn't want the public at large to know the truth -- because it doesn't serve his interest. I'm not sure what his interest is. Perhaps it is a true commercial interest; he makes money selling OEM stuff, and the fact that component clubs can be better than OEM would hurt him financially if people believed it. Perhaps it's just a face-saving thing. This can be anything from a position he has always taken in front of his friends, to "buyer's remorse" (he hates to admit he spent too much for his own clubs). But either way I see why George feels he really needs a note saying that the club conforms; this guy, and maybe the people within earshot of him, are not going to accept Arnie's perfectly correct answer.
Cheers! DaveT
